Toe-wiring tool.



C. P. HOLMES.

TOE WIRING' TOOL.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE24, 1910.

1,049,361 Patented Ja11 7, 1913.

/ no vgl.

CHARLES P. HOLMES, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OFVNEW JERSEY.

TOE-WIRING TOOL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 7,191.3.

Application filed .Tune 24, 1910. Serial No. 568,741.

To all w/wm t may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES P. HOLMES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Impro-vements in Toe-Viring Tools, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specilication, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to tools for use in applying a binder of wire or other continuous binding material about the toe p0rtion of a shoe to hold the upper in lasted position.

In the manufacture of welt shoes with lasting mechanism of the bed type employing end embracing wipers, the overwiped upper can be advantageously bound around the toe portion of the shoe against the lip or shoulder of the innersole, if an innersole having such an abutment for the upper is employed. In this binding operation one usual procedure is to back the wipers partially oif over the marginal portion of the shoe bottom to form a channel between the edge of the wiper and the upstanding portion of the upper that is against the lip or shoulder in order to permit the wire to be placed in suitable binding relation against the foot of said upstanding portion of t-he upper. In thepresent practice of placing the binder the operator uses his lingers and sometimes his lasting pincers in inserting the wire in this channel which is necessarily narrow because the wipersI can be backed off only a shortdistance withoutlosing their hold upon the overworked upn per and permitting it to slip back over the edge of the last. As a result of the dithculties under which the binder is placed it is not put all around the toe into uniform, correct relation to the foot of the upstand ing portion of the upper which it is to hold and frequent-ly it fails to hold the upper securely.

011e object of this invention is to pro-vide a tool or implementl by which more uniform and better placing of the binding' wire can be obtained and by which the wire binding operation may be more quickly performed than heretofore.

In order that the binder shall serve its purpose, it must not only be properly placed in relation to the upstanding portion of upper which it is to hold but mustbe tightly drawn into position to bind the upper against the abutment on the innersole formed by the lip or shoulder. This step of drawing the binder tight-ly into holding position and securing it Linder tension is a very important one but one which is very wearing on the hands of the operator, for the small wire used cu'ts into the flesh painfully after a time and operators frequently are seen wearing gloves to protect their hands. Another objection is that in wrapping the wire around the hand to obtain a 'pulling grip on it the workman bends and he is to use on the next shoe and thus makes that portion of the wire more diiiicult to insert straight in the narrow channel Vbetween the wiper edges and the upstanding upper of t-he next shoe. Some operators use their lasting pincers but these are clumsy tools not particularly adapted for this purpose and the roughened jaws withV their angular edges are very liable to weaken the thin wire gripped by them so that the wire breaks when it is pulled tightly into bind` ing position. Y Y

It will now be apparent that another object of this invention is to provide a wire placing tool by which the wire can be gripped for tightening the binder without injury to the workmans hands and without bending, twisting or mutilating the strand of wire in a way to lessen its convenience of application or to weaken it.

With these and other objects in view an important feature of this invention is found in a wire placing tool adapted for thepurposes describedand having aV slender wire guide or wire placing member, herein shown as a nozzle, adapted for use in placing the wire in the described narrow channel about the portion of upper to be bound.

A further feature is found in the combii nation with such a wire placing member of wire gripping or tension applying devices by which the wire may be placed under tension about the shoe and may be tightened into condition to be anchored without injury to the wire held by the tightening means.

A still further feature is found in a novel arrangement of wire guiding tool and auto matic tension applying or gripping means.

y to apply a previously per material into beingplaced by machine shown in end of the wire andhave linger pieces eX-y tending into position to be engaged by the fingers of t-he hand in which the operator holds the tool wherebyV he can,rby depressing said linger pieces, relieve the grip vor tension to allow the wire torender through the tool under the desired tension. spring may coperate with each lever to reinforce the automat-ic grip-ping action which is incident to the arrangement of the grip- Y ping members on the tails of the levers or on the ends which are remote from the outgoing portion of the wire. c

These and other features of this inven tion, including Vmore important details of vconstruction and combinations of parts will now be described in connection with the accompanying drawings and. will then be ointed outin the claims.

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a shoe" having the toe portion of the upper overworked and held by wipers which are partially backed off to present a channel etween their edges and the upstanding up- `which a binding wire is atool embodying this inis al longitudinal section vention. Fig. 2

vthrough y'the tool; Fig. 3 is a detail of the eye forming means.

While I have for the purpose lof explanation described in some detail one arrangement oflastingmechanism with which this tool is vto be used .with great advantage, it also has great. utility in connection with other arrangements of lasting mechanism of which T would mention particularly that comprised in thep-ullingover and lasting V Letters Patent of Great Britain, No.. 9793 of 1908 granted to Ronald F. McFeely. i In the .wiring operation as practised in the use of that machine the long slender nozzle enables theoperator to reach in between the shoe and the machine parts at the side of the shoe to wrap the wire around'a'driven pulling-over tack, or formed loop to such a tack and then, after having placed the wire under tension about `the toe of the shoe, to reach in between the shoe and the machine parts at the other side for anchoring the wire around its second anchor tack. The length and slenderness of the wire guiding and placing member of the tool are important characteristics adapting it for this use. v

The end embracing wipers of the lasting `upon at t-he nozzle end. movement mechanism are indicated at 2 in dotted lines in Fig. 1 where they arev shown as backed away from the upst nding edge portion 6 of the upper material to permit the wire 5 to be placed in the narrow channel between the edge of the wiper and the upperfor binding the upper against the shoulder of the innersole. The wire placing device comprises the barrel or tubular handle 10 provided with the long slender nozzle 12. The nozzle is shown as fitted tightly into the plug 14 `which is screw-threaded into the front end 0f the handle and may be split to insure firm clamping of the nozzle in place. The nozzle is shown as formed integral with the tubular wire conductor 16. The bore of the nozzle is only large eno-ugh to fit the wire so that perfect control of the wire by the end of the nozzle is insured. The bore of the conductor 16 and of the rear conductor 18 is made larger for a purpose fhich will appear. Two wire grip-ping levers 2O are mounted in slot-sY in the handle and fulcrumed on pins A22. The short rear inturned arms of these levers are each provided with a wire gripping block 24 and these blocks have gripping faces which are preferably of substantial width and between and in sliding contact with which the wire runs as the wire is being drawn through the tool in placing it around the toe of the shoe. The frictional engagement of the outgoing wire with these gripping members and the location of said faces on the inturned arms with relation to the fulcrums 22 insure an automatic gripping of the wire for applying tension the-reto as the wire is pulled Tov prevent loose of the vlevers 2O and to make cer tain of a constant position of the levers in proper relation to one another to grip upon the wire at all times, even when the wire is loose, light springs 25 are arranged to press the front ends of the levers 20 outwardlyv and the gripping faces together. These springs in practice also obviously assist in effecting the gripping of the wire. vare supported at their innerends in sockets Ein a spool 28 and They their outer ends in recesses in the enlarged finger pieces y29 of the front ends of the levers 20. These finger pieces may advantageously be raised for ready engagement by the lingers of they handfwith which the operator grasps the tool. By varying the pressure on the finger pieces the grip on the wire can be relaxed more or less to allow it to be pulled through the tool under lessor more tension depending upon the tightness with which Vit is desired to wrap the wire around the toe as t-he wire is being placed. Y

In using the tool the wire end may be held by a nger while the strand is wrapped Then by ios means ofthe slender nozzle the wire is placed under tension about the toe of the shoe in the narrow channel between the edge of the wipers 2 and the upper, beingilaid in proper relation to the base of the upstanding Vportion 6 of the upper to bind the upper securely against the lip S` of the inner-sole. When placed about the toe and tightened as-may be necessary, the wire is wrapped about the tack t2 as shown in dotted lines in Fig. l and the strand at the nozzle end may then be readily broken from the anchored binder by kinking it sharply. The tension on the wire is maintained automatically by the arrangementof the levers 2O and is controlled without special attention by pressure upon the finger pieces`29 inj the direction to overcome the tendency of the gripping blocks 24 to bite upon the wire. The enlarged bore of t-he conductors 16, 1S permits variation in the position of the clamp blocks 24 without liability of injuriously bending the wire adjacent to the ends of the conductors.

For the purpose of forming an eye in the end of the strand which is adapted to be threaded over the tack t, instead of winding the wire around the tack, and for the further purpose of suspending the tool when it is not in use, I have shown the post 30 projecting from a suitable base 32 in which is formed adjacent to the post a socket 33 to take the end of the wire thrust therein and to hold the wire end while the wire is given, by means of the tool, a turn about the post to form the eye, as shown in Fig. 3. The tool may then be left hanging, being sustained by the engagement of the wire with the post 30 and the walls of the socket 33. When the tool is to be used the eye already formed in the end of the wire is ready to be applied immediately to the tack t. This has been found particularly advantageous in the use of the tool with the machine of the British patent mentioned. The end of the wire which goes into the socket 33 is formed into a prong which sticks into the upper material and increases the security of the anchorage of the wire to the tack The socket 33 may be inclined in the direction to form the prong into a slightly back-turned hook as shown in Fig. 3 to increase its holding power'. The recess is so located that the main strand of the wire crosses the pronged end and tends to press and bind the prong in holding engagementwith the stock. This eye forming means and the binder prepared for use by the aid of said means is no part of the present invention and no claim thereto is made in this application.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A hand tool for use in applying Va binder in position to secure an upper in lastedV position about the toe portion of a shoe,` comprising a slender nozzle adapted to be manipulated in twisting the end of the binder about an anchor tack and to guide the binder around the toe of the shoe in the channel between the Vedge of the Wipers andV the `upstanding upper material of the shoe, and a hand piece connected with the nozzle and through which and the nozzle the binding material extends, and means arranged to be actuated by handle grasping pressure to control the tension under which the binder is held.

2. A hand tool for use in fastening th overworked toe portion of an upper by means of a binding, Wire while the upper is held by end embracing wipers, comprising a slender nozzle adapted to extend between the edge of the partially backed `off wipers and the upstanding upper to be bound for placing the wire in the space between said wipers and upper, a handle connected to the nozzle through which handle and nozzle the wire extends, and friction clamping members comprising levers pivoted in the handle and having operating ends extending into position to be engaged by the operators fingers and wire gripping faces on said levers. 3. A hand tool for use in fastening the overworked toe portion of an upper by means of a binding wire and comprising a wire guiding member at its wire outgoing end, a handle, and a tension applying lever fulcrumed in the handle and having on its end remote from the said wire guiding means a wire gripping device and arranged to be actuated by the tension of the Wire in the direction to increase its grip upon the wire.

4. A hand tool for use in fastening the overworked toe portion of an upper by means of a binding wire and comprising a slender wire guiding nozzle, a handle, and a device arranged in the handle for automatically gripping and holding the wire against being drawn through said handle, said device being arranged to permit the operator to apply pressure thereto to relax the Wire grip by a nger of the hand that is embracmg the handle.

5. A hand tool for use in fastening the overworked toe portion of an upper by means of a binding wire and comprising a slender wire placing member, a handle, and a lever having a face arranged to grip the wire within the handle and fulcrumed between said face and the placing member whereby friction of the outgoing wire tends automatically to actuate said lever in the direction to increase its grip on the wire.

6. A hand tool for use in fastening the overworked `toe portion of an upper by means of a binding wire and comprising a Vslender wire placing member, a handle, and

opposed levers fulcrumed behind said placs Copies otithis patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner q f Patents.

ing member and having cooperating Wire clamping faces arranged to'be drawn automatically by the tension of the wire in the direction to grip the Wire, said levers having portions extending into position to be pressed in the direction to relax the grip by the fingers embracing the handle.

7. A hand tool for useV in fastening they overworked toe portion ofV an upper by means `of afbinding Wire and comprising a slender wlre placing member, a handle, opposed pivoted gripping levers having grippingv faces on their short rear arms rautomatically retarding the advance of the wire between them, and Vlinger vpieces on their 15 `long arms to be engaged by the hand grasping the handle for relaxing the grip on the wire.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of 20 two subscribing witnesses. Y

CHARLES r. HOLMES.

Witnesses:

CHESTER E.v ROGERS, LAURA M. GrooDRrDeE.

Washington, '.D. GJ' 

